Struggling Argentina Set to Face Off Against Rivals Chile in the South American World Cup Qualifier

Struggling Argentina Set to Face Off Against Rivals Chile in the South American World Cup Qualifier

Powerhouse Argentina, who has potentially the greatest player on earth, is currently ranked as the number one team in the world.

In the World Cup four years ago in Brazil they finished in second place, losing to Germany, so there must be a lot of motivation for revenge in the Russian World Cup.

Although they finished second place last time, they are not guaranteed to qualify for the next World Cup.

If they can’t survive this qualifying stage, they won’t even be allowed to play in the next World Cup.

It’s well known that every South American qualifier has a lot of tough matchups, so even if Argentina sits at the top rank, it doesn’t mean this will be an easy ride for them.

Especially this season, they are currently sitting in fifth place, barely making it into qualifying position. They are already looking to be in a dire situation.

This exciting game kicks off on March 24th. Let’s try and predict this game which sees Chile playing in Argentina’s home ground.

–Why is Argentina Struggling? There are rumors of the team breaking apart.

People have been saying the Argentinian squad is not so strong in important matches every year.

After the World Cup and two Copa America competitions it is tough to watch Argentina’s fans let down three competitions in a row.

The national fans always like to compare Messi to Maradona, and because of this they often bad mouth him, as he has yet to win any kind of National title.

The media also has picked up a lot of gossip regarding Messi lately, and the Argentinian players are being pressured off the pitch as well.

Messi expressed that he was going to potentially stop representing his home country due to all of these factors, and there were also several other star players who expressed similar sentiments.

In the match against worst place Venezuela, which did not feature Messi, Argentina was able to score one goal toward the end of the game for the win. However it seems many of the players were not satisfied with that result.

Luckily Messi ultimately decided to rejoin the team, and they could avoid breaking the squad apart, but the media is still talking about a lot of negative things.

Even with all of their superstars, it is very clear that Argentina’s ability to cooperate will be put to the test as we move closer to Russia’s World Cup.

A quick improvement of the players’ mentality is definitely needed.

–Can Argentina Get Their Revenge Against Strong Rivals Chile?

One reason Argentinian fans have been criticizing Messi, is the quality gap in his play between his club Barca, and National soccer.

In big games for the National team, it is well known that Messi has not shown his strength well.

With the pressure of Argentina’s expectations Messi has not been able to perform his best, despite his amazing dribbling skills.

Also Argentina typically plays a vertical quick style of Soccer which is different from Barcelona’s possession focused style, making it difficult for him to play well.

However the reason why Messi was almost pushed into retirement from National football was none other than the Chilean National Team.

Even though Chile is a powerhouse in its own right, with players like Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez, the overall team skill should not be on par with Argentina. Chile currently sits as the fourth ranked team in the world.

However in the Copa America Competition which decides the top team in the Americas, they were able to beat Argentina twice, and displayed their team’s true power.

Both games went past extra time with Chile winning on penalty kicks.

In the second game against Chile, Messi was the first penalty kicker and missed, with Chile ultimately getting the victory.

The Argentinean fans who were so furious after the game all started attacking Messi at once, which resulted in Messi nearly deciding to retire.

The past games played against each other, Argentina has 55 wins, 6 losses, and 23 draws so it seems that they are the much better team. However it is in greatly important matches that they have been losing against Chile.

This battle, which takes place in Argentina’s home ground, where both teams can’t afford to lose to be able to qualify for the World Cup.

It’s of course expected to be an intense game, with those two rivals against each other.

Let’s expect Messi to play so well that he can blow away all of the bad criticism.

–Key Points for the Game

There is an impression that South American National teams are good at vertically fast soccer involving counters in addition to individual attacking talent.

There have been a lot of times where it looks like their defensive skill is not so great, but they try to put their opponent’s into a bad position by constantly aggressively with forwards.

They also try and wear their opponents down, and steal the ball.

We can predict that there will be intense offense and defense happening from the mid field to forward position, but they key player for Chile is Vidal who seems to play great at the National level.

It’s important for Vidal to cut off Argentina’s line by marking their strong forwards like Messi, De Maria, Higuain, and others.

He will also need to press the opposing mid-field as a source for his passing.

On the other hand Argentina has a high press that goes above even Chile’s high press.

It is the closest way to win the game, and be able to maintain their stamina until the end of the game.

De Maria’s quality of play is very important to cover the players who lack in stamina and defense, such as Messi and Higuain.

The abundant stamina play which disturbs opposing defenses will be like an energy shot for Argentina.

–Let’s Predict the Game with Odds

World ranked number 1 vs World ranked number 4, in a high ranked match!

So let’s predict the outcome of this battle of these American powerhouses with odds.

Bookmaker Bet365

Can be Seen in Graph in Article

Even though this is a game of rivals, there is still a big gap in the odds.

Although Argentina is predicted to have troubles in the game, they will be in their home ground, which could explain the heavily favored odds.

Lately Argentina has not been their best, the past scores between these two teams shows Argentina is typically much better.

So it’s a fact that Argentina would have better odds of winning.

Against #1 ranked Argentina with all of their star players, Chile will surely struggle to win in Argentina’s home ground.

Due to the lack of teamwork and other disadvantages Chile’s chance of winning was predicted to be lower than Argentina’s.

–Conclusions

The South American Qualifying game will feature two powerhouses battling it out.

Can an Argentine squad currently sitting in fifth place manage to improve their World Cup qualifying chances by winning against Chile?

This game will be a test of their teamwork and ability to cooperate with each other.
This exciting game kicks off on the 24th at 8am Japan time, you can’t afford to take your eyes off this one.